All I need is a place to hide for a few weeks.
The paparazzi were on my ass 24/7 and I needed a bit of breathing room—an escape from the madness—before the media frenzy begins.
Sure, I could have gone to a secluded cabin in the woods—but I didn’t want to be bored out of my mind. I’d seen enough wide open spaces as a kid from Texas to last me a lifetime.
So instead, I let my agent hook me up with a modest house in the burbs where we didn’t think anyone would find me hiding in plain sight.
I’d have a roommate; but supposedly, she was going to give me space. Stay out of my way and respect my boundaries. According to my agent, I wouldn’t hear a peep from her.
Wrong. He was wrong about everything and now my life was never going to be the same.
| Title: | The Secret Roommate |
| Author: | Sara Ney |
| Series: | Accidentally in Love (Book 4) |
| Pages: | 308 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Roommates to Lovers Enemies to Lovers Reverse Age Gap (Older Woman) |
| Point of View: | First Person, Present Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
| Location: | Chicago, Illinois, US |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 4th October, 2022 |
 |  |  |  |
A slow burn, reverse age-gap romance
I’ve been enjoying this series – Accidentally in Love – of which this is the fourth book. The premise of all the books is that it’s about strong, single women all falling in love accidentally. This book, like those before it, stands alone and the romance is self-contained. Like the first two in the series were linked in some way, so are the last book (The Make Out Artist) and this one in that Posey from this book was roommates with Molly from the last. But you definitely don’t have to have read any of the previous ones to read, understand and enjoy this one.
The premise of this book sounded absolutely delicious to me – I am partial to a grumpy man – even better that he’s a big, burly footballer hiding out – and pairing him with a sweet kindergarten teacher sounded perfection. Of course both our characters have layers but that’s essentially what we get. I do feel I was tricked into reading an older woman / younger man book (he’s 24 and she’s 29/30) – which I do tend to pass on. It’s still not my favourite and it did give me problems in the book – but I got over it. Mostly.
Posey doesn’t really come across as the sweet, shy kindergarten teacher other than that’s Duke both expects and sees when he looks at her. Sure, she might be a little bit of a goody two shoes but I completely was on her side, especially at the beginning. I mean, what kind of monster sees a cake, wants it and just eats it? I was fuming on Posey’s behalf. To be fair, her age is rarely mentioned in relation to Duke’s age but I did feel it was evident in the way they acted. Posey was clearly a stable, functioning adult. I liked her, but she didn’t set my world on fire.
“…Sara Ney’s writing, as always, is bright, interesting and engaging.”
Duke was a little bit more difficult to pin down my feelings on. When he first arrived at Posey’s house he was an absolute asshole – but for some reason I liked him and his antics. He was a lot entitled and a little clueless and his straightforward manner made me laugh. It was when he came up against Posey’s sensibleness that I started to judge him. Or, it might have been when his age was revealed. It might even be when he ate that damned cake. Still not over that, if I’m honest. By the end of the book I liked him again but the age gap still clouded my thoughts of Posey and Duke as a couple.
Putting that aside, there was definitely chemistry between our pair – first coming across as dislike, then as friends and finally as lovers. While again, it didn’t set my world on fire, I liked it and it definitely ramped up when we finally get going.
The book is billed as a slow burn and it’s definitely that. While that’s fine – I can do insta-love or slow burn – in this book I would have preferred the slow burn to be shorter so that we could get more time with the couple nearer the end. As I’ve found is often the case in Sara Ney’s books, we reach the end without any declarations of love or any firm plans for the future. The couple are clearly established, and we’re happy they’re happy – so I’d still class it as a HEA, but my problems with the age gap definitely made me need more from this couple than was shown.
This is still a good read and Sara Ney’s writing, as always, is bright, interesting and engaging. Not my favourite of her stories or in this series, but still a fun read and one I’m giving 4 stars.
* I received this book in exchange for my honest review.*
Sara Ney is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the How to Date a Douchebag series, and is best known for her sexy, laugh-out-loud New Adult romances. Among her favorite vices, she includes: iced latte’s, historical architecture and well-placed sarcasm. She lives colorfully, collects vintage books, art, loves flea markets, and fancies herself British.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Accidentally In Love Series:
2 Comments
Review: How to Score Off Field by Sara Ney - Jo Reads Romance
17 September 2023 at 4:14 pm[…] the four Colter brothers, football gods on campus and off. (The oldest brother got his story in The Secret Roommate, part of […]
Review: How To Lose at Love by Sara Ney - Jo Reads Romance
19 January 2023 at 1:28 pm[…] when I realised that our hero in this story, Dallas, is the younger brother of Duke, the hero in The Secret Roommate. Duke and Posey do pop up in this story but fleetingly, and you don’t need to read it before […]